Around 30 new and existing works by artists including Cornelia Parker, Imran Qureshi, Carmen Herrera, Giuseppe Penone and Martin Creed were sold at Sotheby’s London yesterday, 2 July, in aid of Ikon Gallery in Birmingham. The Artists for Ikon sale, which took place as part of Sotheby’s contemporary art day auction, raised more than £785,000 for the non-profit gallery’s 50th anniversary endowment fund.
All the artists who donated works had previously exhibited at Ikon. Among the top lots were Cypress Hill (2015) by the Birmingham-born painter Hurvin Anderson, which sold for £173,000 (est £40,000-£60,000), and O Hippie (2014), a paper and plastic collage by the Brazilian artist Beatriz Milhazes, which went for £112,500 (est £50,000-£70,000). Antony Gormley’s casein drawing Connect (2014), which sold for £6,000 (est £6,000-£8,000), bore a dedication on the back: “For Ikon’s 50th with love & thanks”. Julian Opie’s Red Socks and Chanel Bag (2015) went for £93,750 (£20,000-£30,000), a record price for the artist’s work at auction.
“The auction is a once-in-a-lifetime event for us,” says the Ikon director Jonathan Watkins. The proceeds will give the gallery “a much-needed perennial income… towards exhibition production and the commissioning of new work for years to come,” Watkins says. The auction and the accompanying “greatest hits” exhibition in Birmingham earlier this year round off a series of special events celebrating the gallery’s 50th anniversary.
